The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant effects on service delivery for transgender and gender diverse youth. Many in-person services were suspended in response to the need to follow quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, at both the state and national levels. In response, our pediatric gender clinic adopted a rapid implementation of telehealth services to provide access to gender affirming care. However, there exists little guidance on how to provide gender-affirming care via these platforms. In this article, we provide a narrative review of the development of a full-scale model for delivering telehealth services to transgender and gender diverse youth and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of telehealth services for transgender and gender-diverse youth and focus on the continued need for advocacy around systemic barriers to care.
Background
It has been well established that individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer are at increased risk for mental health pathology, including eating disorders/disordered eating behaviors (ED/DEB). However, less is understood about the unique experiences of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people who struggle with ED/DEB.
Aims
The purpose of this literature review is to examine the literature regarding the unique risk factors for TGD individuals who experience ED/DEB through a lens informed by the minority stress model. Additionally, guidance around the assessment and clinical management of eating disorders for TGD individuals will be presented.
Results
TGD people are at increased risk for developing ED/DEB due to a number of factors including: gender dysphoria, minority stress, the desire to pass, and barriers to gender affirming care.
Conclusion
While guidance around assessment and treatment of ED/DEB for TGD individuals is still limited, adhering to a gender affirmative care model is essential.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.